Wednesday June 29, 2011
Middle class homes
By JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU and
PAUL GABRIEL
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: Middle
class Malaysians who are
aspiring to buy a home
will soon be able to do so
once a new Government-
led initiative to build
apartments costing less
than RM300,000 in major
cities is launched this
year, Housing and Local
Government Minister
Datuk Chor Chee Heung
said.
The affordable housing
scheme, which is an
addition to the My First
Home Scheme for units
costing between
RM100,000 and
RM220,000, will see
stratified units priced
between RM220,000 and
RM300,000 being built for
those with a household
income of less than
RM6,000 a month and
who do not yet own a
house.
“The Government will do
whatever it can to
ensure the lower income
group will have a house
and the medium income
group will have a chance
to buy a property of their
own,” he said in an
interview with The Star.
Chor said the plan was
for units to be between
850 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft
and each apartment
would have a minimum of
three rooms.
The ceiling price of
RM300,000 will be for
units built in Kuala
Lumpur, Penang and Johor
Baru and the price will be
lower in other parts of
the country.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Peeing drunk givesJetstar passengersa sprayJune 29, 2011 - 2:24PMA Jetstar passenger whourinated in a plane aisleduring a flight, sprayingother passengers, hasbeen let off with awarning.The man was flying fromAuckland to Singapore onMonday when heanswered the call ofnature about six hoursinto the 11-hour trip.A passenger said the manurinated on to anotherman's leg and the scarf ofa female passenger."I hear this sound ofrunning water and then Ihear a guy going 'No, no,no, what the hell is wrongwith you?' And there'sthis guy pissing in theaisle, waving back andforth," Amos Chapple toldthe New Zealand Herald.Jetstar confirmed thatthe crew had to "counseland manage" a inebriatedpassenger who "engagedin inappropriate anddisruptive behaviour"."We can confirm on thisoccasion, our crewfollowed all standardprocedures includingconfiscating alcoholbrought on board andissuing an onboardwarning in conjunctionwith advice from thecaptain," the airline said ina statement.Police were not called asthe passenger was nolonger disruptive afterbeing warned, the airlinesaid."As per our standardprocedures, an internalreport has been filed andwe are followingstandard internal processincluding reviewing thecustomer's futuresuitability for travel."Mr Chapple said he hadconfronted the man inSingapore but heappeared to have no ideawhat he had done duringthe flight.Jetstar said it was in theprocess of contacting thecustomers impacted bythe inappropriatebehaviour to offercompensation.
Peeing drunk gives
Jetstar passengers
a spray
June 29, 2011 - 2:24PM
A Jetstar passenger who
urinated in a plane aisle
during a flight, spraying
other passengers, has
been let off with a
warning.
The man was flying from
Auckland to Singapore on
Monday when he
answered the call of
nature about six hours
into the 11-hour trip.
A passenger said the man
urinated on to another
man's leg and the scarf of
a female passenger.
"I hear this sound of
running water and then I
hear a guy going 'No, no,
no, what the hell is wrong
with you?' And there's
this guy pissing in the
aisle, waving back and
forth," Amos Chapple told
the New Zealand Herald.
Jetstar confirmed that
the crew had to "counsel
and manage" a inebriated
passenger who "engaged
in inappropriate and
disruptive behaviour".
"We can confirm on this
occasion, our crew
followed all standard
procedures including
confiscating alcohol
brought on board and
issuing an onboard
warning in conjunction
with advice from the
captain," the airline said in
a statement.
Police were not called as
the passenger was no
longer disruptive after
being warned, the airline
said.
"As per our standard
procedures, an internal
report has been filed and
we are following
standard internal process
including reviewing the
customer's future
suitability for travel."
Mr Chapple said he had
confronted the man in
Singapore but he
appeared to have no idea
what he had done during
the flight.
Jetstar said it was in the
process of contacting the
customers impacted by
the inappropriate
behaviour to offer
compensation.
Jetstar passengers
a spray
June 29, 2011 - 2:24PM
A Jetstar passenger who
urinated in a plane aisle
during a flight, spraying
other passengers, has
been let off with a
warning.
The man was flying from
Auckland to Singapore on
Monday when he
answered the call of
nature about six hours
into the 11-hour trip.
A passenger said the man
urinated on to another
man's leg and the scarf of
a female passenger.
"I hear this sound of
running water and then I
hear a guy going 'No, no,
no, what the hell is wrong
with you?' And there's
this guy pissing in the
aisle, waving back and
forth," Amos Chapple told
the New Zealand Herald.
Jetstar confirmed that
the crew had to "counsel
and manage" a inebriated
passenger who "engaged
in inappropriate and
disruptive behaviour".
"We can confirm on this
occasion, our crew
followed all standard
procedures including
confiscating alcohol
brought on board and
issuing an onboard
warning in conjunction
with advice from the
captain," the airline said in
a statement.
Police were not called as
the passenger was no
longer disruptive after
being warned, the airline
said.
"As per our standard
procedures, an internal
report has been filed and
we are following
standard internal process
including reviewing the
customer's future
suitability for travel."
Mr Chapple said he had
confronted the man in
Singapore but he
appeared to have no idea
what he had done during
the flight.
Jetstar said it was in the
process of contacting the
customers impacted by
the inappropriate
behaviour to offer
compensation.
Fatal plunge offfourth floor after18-year-oldattends counselling session
Wednesday June 29, 2011
Fatal plunge off
fourth floor after
18-year-old
attends counselling
session
By AUSTIN CAMOENS and
NG CHENG YEE
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
KAJANG: A Form Six
student from SMK Yu Hua
fell to his death from the
fourth floor of one of the
blocks moments after
attending a counselling
session.
Nge Hao Zheng, 18, died
on the spot from multiple
injuries at about 9.20am
yesterday.
Security guard Shamsol
Mazli Abdul Samad, 38,
said he heard a loud thud
and when he went to
take a look he saw the
boy lying in a pool of
blood.
Where it happened: A
picture showing SMK Yu
Hua, where Hao Zheng
(inset) fell to his death at
one of the school blocks.
It is learnt that Hao Zheng,
who did not have a
disciplinary record, was
referred for the
counselling session after
he allegedly nudged a
female student on
Monday.
When met at the Serdang
Hospital, the boy's father,
who only wanted to be
known as Nge, said he
was unaware that his
son was told to attend
the counselling session.
“He went to school in
the morning as usual and
he did not seem
depressed,” he said.
Police have classified the
case as sudden death,
adding that Hao Zheng's
body was sent to the
Serdang Hospital for a
post-mortem.
Meanwhile, Deputy
Education Minister Datuk
Dr Wee Ka Siong said Hao
Zheng was referred to
the counselling teacher
by a disciplinary teacher
after a female student
complained that he had
deliberately “bumped”
into her.
Devastated: Hao
Zheng’s mother being
comforted by Nge at the
Serdang Hospital
mortuary Tuesday. —
GLENN GUAN/The Star
“He admitted to the
accusation and was
crying during the session.
The teacher tried to calm
him down and asked him
to rest for five minutes.
“However, no
disciplinary action was
taken against him,” he
said at a press
conference here
yesterday.
He said Hao Zheng then
left the counselling room
at 9.05am before he was
found dead at about
9.20am.
Dr Wee, who expressed
his condolences to Nge's
family, said he had
instructed the school
authorities and the
district education
department to provide
assistance to them.
Fatal plunge off
fourth floor after
18-year-old
attends counselling
session
By AUSTIN CAMOENS and
NG CHENG YEE
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
KAJANG: A Form Six
student from SMK Yu Hua
fell to his death from the
fourth floor of one of the
blocks moments after
attending a counselling
session.
Nge Hao Zheng, 18, died
on the spot from multiple
injuries at about 9.20am
yesterday.
Security guard Shamsol
Mazli Abdul Samad, 38,
said he heard a loud thud
and when he went to
take a look he saw the
boy lying in a pool of
blood.
Where it happened: A
picture showing SMK Yu
Hua, where Hao Zheng
(inset) fell to his death at
one of the school blocks.
It is learnt that Hao Zheng,
who did not have a
disciplinary record, was
referred for the
counselling session after
he allegedly nudged a
female student on
Monday.
When met at the Serdang
Hospital, the boy's father,
who only wanted to be
known as Nge, said he
was unaware that his
son was told to attend
the counselling session.
“He went to school in
the morning as usual and
he did not seem
depressed,” he said.
Police have classified the
case as sudden death,
adding that Hao Zheng's
body was sent to the
Serdang Hospital for a
post-mortem.
Meanwhile, Deputy
Education Minister Datuk
Dr Wee Ka Siong said Hao
Zheng was referred to
the counselling teacher
by a disciplinary teacher
after a female student
complained that he had
deliberately “bumped”
into her.
Devastated: Hao
Zheng’s mother being
comforted by Nge at the
Serdang Hospital
mortuary Tuesday. —
GLENN GUAN/The Star
“He admitted to the
accusation and was
crying during the session.
The teacher tried to calm
him down and asked him
to rest for five minutes.
“However, no
disciplinary action was
taken against him,” he
said at a press
conference here
yesterday.
He said Hao Zheng then
left the counselling room
at 9.05am before he was
found dead at about
9.20am.
Dr Wee, who expressed
his condolences to Nge's
family, said he had
instructed the school
authorities and the
district education
department to provide
assistance to them.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
FB accounts of students offering sex closed
Saturday June 25, 2011
FB accounts of
students offering
sex closed
The Facebook accounts
allegedly belonging to
secondary school
students offering sex
services had been closed
after China Press
reported about them in
its front-page on
Thursday.
The daily reported that
the girls were afraid that
the authorities might be
able to track them down
through the accounts.
The paper had earlier
reported that some
students used Facebook
to earn money through
sex.
One said she had listed
her sex services on a
website to earn money to
buy an iPhone.
A 17-year-old student
from Kepong, who had
paid RM300 a month to
advertise herself on a sex
website, said due to the
report she would
temporarily stop the
advertisement.
She said she would
resume her “service”
later.
The daily also found out
that a netizen who
claimed to be a 21-year-
old girl from Malacca
cheated potential
customers after they
banked in the money to
her.
The girl asked for RM300
per session of sex and
RM600 for an overnight
rendezvous.
The girl closed down her
account after she
received the money from
the daily's reporter who
had posed as a customer.
China Press also reported
that a Form Three
student from Ampang,
Selangor, skipped school
several times to have sex
with her Form Four
boyfriend in a toilet at a
mamak stall.
Her teacher, who was
suspicious about her
constant absence from
school, hauled her in for
questioning.
The girl decided to tell her
teacher the truth after
she was threatened by
her boyfriend to pay
RM150 or he would tell
her family members and
classmates about their
sexual liaisons.
> Sin Chew Daily reported
that Ella Chen, a member
of Asia's top all-girl
singing group S.H.E.,
denied that she would
marry her Malaysian
boyfriend Alvin Lai this
year.
“I am very busy this
year. I have no time to get
married, ” she said.
Previously, a magazine
reported that Chen would
marry in December or
March next year.
FB accounts of
students offering
sex closed
The Facebook accounts
allegedly belonging to
secondary school
students offering sex
services had been closed
after China Press
reported about them in
its front-page on
Thursday.
The daily reported that
the girls were afraid that
the authorities might be
able to track them down
through the accounts.
The paper had earlier
reported that some
students used Facebook
to earn money through
sex.
One said she had listed
her sex services on a
website to earn money to
buy an iPhone.
A 17-year-old student
from Kepong, who had
paid RM300 a month to
advertise herself on a sex
website, said due to the
report she would
temporarily stop the
advertisement.
She said she would
resume her “service”
later.
The daily also found out
that a netizen who
claimed to be a 21-year-
old girl from Malacca
cheated potential
customers after they
banked in the money to
her.
The girl asked for RM300
per session of sex and
RM600 for an overnight
rendezvous.
The girl closed down her
account after she
received the money from
the daily's reporter who
had posed as a customer.
China Press also reported
that a Form Three
student from Ampang,
Selangor, skipped school
several times to have sex
with her Form Four
boyfriend in a toilet at a
mamak stall.
Her teacher, who was
suspicious about her
constant absence from
school, hauled her in for
questioning.
The girl decided to tell her
teacher the truth after
she was threatened by
her boyfriend to pay
RM150 or he would tell
her family members and
classmates about their
sexual liaisons.
> Sin Chew Daily reported
that Ella Chen, a member
of Asia's top all-girl
singing group S.H.E.,
denied that she would
marry her Malaysian
boyfriend Alvin Lai this
year.
“I am very busy this
year. I have no time to get
married, ” she said.
Previously, a magazine
reported that Chen would
marry in December or
March next year.
Newborn and mum found dead in toilet
Saturday June 25, 2011
Newborn and mum
found dead in toilet
A newborn girl and her
single mother were found
dead in the toilet of a
factory hours after her
birth.
A cleaner discovered the
bodies at Taman
Perindustrian Merlimau,
Malacca, on Thursday at
about 8am, Berita Harian
reported.
A police spokesman said
the mother, in her 30s,
from Kemendor near
Jasin, was believed to
have died of excessive
bleeding.
He said the woman had
entered the toilet at 3am
and given birth to the
baby.
He said they were
waiting for the post-
mortem report from
Hospital Jasin.
“The victim is believed
to have been staying
with her brother in
Kampung Kilang Berapi
before the incident
occurred, ” a source said.
> A lorry attendant was
sentenced to 10 days
behind bars after he
failed to produce his
MyKad when requested
by the police, reported
Sinar Harian.
M. Gobinah, 21, was also
fined RM300 after
pleading guilty to the
offence which occurred
in Kapar, Klang, on June
20.
Under Regulation 25(1)(n)
of the National
Registration Regulations,
anyone found guilty of
not carrying his or her
MyKad at all times could
be fined a maximum of
RM20,000 or jailed up to a
maximum of three years,
or both.
Gobinah told magistrate
Azlinda Ahmad Sharif that
he had lost his MyKad two
days before he was
stopped by the police.
He, however, failed to
produce a police report
on the loss.
Earlier, Gobinah pleaded
not guilty to the charge
of possessing 0.03g of
amphetamine at the same
place, time and day that
he was detained.
Newborn and mum
found dead in toilet
A newborn girl and her
single mother were found
dead in the toilet of a
factory hours after her
birth.
A cleaner discovered the
bodies at Taman
Perindustrian Merlimau,
Malacca, on Thursday at
about 8am, Berita Harian
reported.
A police spokesman said
the mother, in her 30s,
from Kemendor near
Jasin, was believed to
have died of excessive
bleeding.
He said the woman had
entered the toilet at 3am
and given birth to the
baby.
He said they were
waiting for the post-
mortem report from
Hospital Jasin.
“The victim is believed
to have been staying
with her brother in
Kampung Kilang Berapi
before the incident
occurred, ” a source said.
> A lorry attendant was
sentenced to 10 days
behind bars after he
failed to produce his
MyKad when requested
by the police, reported
Sinar Harian.
M. Gobinah, 21, was also
fined RM300 after
pleading guilty to the
offence which occurred
in Kapar, Klang, on June
20.
Under Regulation 25(1)(n)
of the National
Registration Regulations,
anyone found guilty of
not carrying his or her
MyKad at all times could
be fined a maximum of
RM20,000 or jailed up to a
maximum of three years,
or both.
Gobinah told magistrate
Azlinda Ahmad Sharif that
he had lost his MyKad two
days before he was
stopped by the police.
He, however, failed to
produce a police report
on the loss.
Earlier, Gobinah pleaded
not guilty to the charge
of possessing 0.03g of
amphetamine at the same
place, time and day that
he was detained.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Malaysia suspends officers over naked squat claims
By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 6/17/2011
Malaysia suspends officers over naked squat claims
Malaysia has suspended two immigration officers as it investigates allegations that they forced a pair of Singaporean women to do squats naked, a senior official said Friday.
Malaysia suspends officers over naked squat claims
The women's allegations were first reported by the media in Singapore last week, and Malaysian immigration director general Alias Ahmad said that an investigation was opened on Thursday.
According to the Straits Times, the women in their 20s and 30s were heading into southern Malaysia for dinner on June 9 and accidentally drove through an unattended immigration line on the road border between Malaysia and Singapore.
When they returned to the immigration checkpoint to report their mistake, the women were handcuffed, thrown behind bars, told to undress and forced to perform squats, according to the paper. They were held for nearly 48 hours.
"(Two officials) have been temporarily suspended pending the investigation," Alias told AFP.
"We are investigating what really happened and whether the officials in charge complied with the procedures," he said. "Thirdly, we are also looking at whether we need any improvement in our procedures."
Alias said Malaysia's immigration procedures allowed officials to strip-search detainees to make sure they were not carrying drugs, weapons or other forbidden items.
He said it was up to each officer's discretion whether to make detainees squat.
"The purpose and objective of the body search is to make sure that the person is free of any forbidden item," he said.
Malaysian opposition parties and women's groups have long called for an end to the practice of making women squat, saying it is an abuse of power and humiliating.
There was a nationwide furore in late 2005 when a video recording emerged showing a naked woman performing squats while a policewoman in uniform looked on.
An inquiry into the incident found the practice to be common but inhumane and recommended it be scrapped.
Malaysia suspends officers over naked squat claims
Malaysia has suspended two immigration officers as it investigates allegations that they forced a pair of Singaporean women to do squats naked, a senior official said Friday.
Malaysia suspends officers over naked squat claims
The women's allegations were first reported by the media in Singapore last week, and Malaysian immigration director general Alias Ahmad said that an investigation was opened on Thursday.
According to the Straits Times, the women in their 20s and 30s were heading into southern Malaysia for dinner on June 9 and accidentally drove through an unattended immigration line on the road border between Malaysia and Singapore.
When they returned to the immigration checkpoint to report their mistake, the women were handcuffed, thrown behind bars, told to undress and forced to perform squats, according to the paper. They were held for nearly 48 hours.
"(Two officials) have been temporarily suspended pending the investigation," Alias told AFP.
"We are investigating what really happened and whether the officials in charge complied with the procedures," he said. "Thirdly, we are also looking at whether we need any improvement in our procedures."
Alias said Malaysia's immigration procedures allowed officials to strip-search detainees to make sure they were not carrying drugs, weapons or other forbidden items.
He said it was up to each officer's discretion whether to make detainees squat.
"The purpose and objective of the body search is to make sure that the person is free of any forbidden item," he said.
Malaysian opposition parties and women's groups have long called for an end to the practice of making women squat, saying it is an abuse of power and humiliating.
There was a nationwide furore in late 2005 when a video recording emerged showing a naked woman performing squats while a policewoman in uniform looked on.
An inquiry into the incident found the practice to be common but inhumane and recommended it be scrapped.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Nokia pushing Graphene as super-material of the future
Wednesday June 15, 2011
Nokia pushing
Graphene as super-
material of the
future
AMAZING: Nokia Morph in
Phone Mode. Graphene is
a thin, light, super-strong,
flexible material that may
be the key to developing
revolutionary devices. -
AFP/Relaxnews
Graphene is a super-
material that Nokia
believes will revolutionise
gadgets and "change the
world." Nokia explains,
"Graphene is an allotrope
of carbon and its 2D
structure measures just
one atom thick.
While being thin, it's the
strongest material ever
tested, having a breaking
strength 200 times
greater than steel and is
also the lightest material
ever, best intrinsic
conductor and super-
flexible, too. It's predicted
to replace silicon as the
base for all electronics."
This thin, light, super-
strong, flexible material
may be the key to
developing revolutionary
devices, such as Nokia's
"Morph," that up until
now have only been
envisioned as far-fetched
concepts.
Nokia Morph open
"We're not just talking
about mobile phones
here, we're talking about
the technology in its
vastness. Once the
technology exists, your
TV could - in theory - just
be unrolled and pasted to
your living room wall, like
a roll of wallpaper," adds
Nokia in a June 14 post on
its Conversations blog.
While the possibilities for
Graphene-based gadgets
are mind-boggling there is
still a lot of research to be
done.
Nokia is teaming up with
four Nobel laureates: Dr
Andrea Gelm, Dr
Konstantin Novoselov, Dr
K. von Klitzing and Dr A.
Fert to further the
technology as part of the
Graphene Flagship
programme.
The Chalmers University
of Technology, the
University of Manchester,
the University of
Lancaster, the University
of Cambridge, AMO Gmbh,
the Catalan institute of
Nanotechnology, the
Italian research council,
and the European Science
foundation will also be
involved in the
programme.
Nokia Morph in Wrist
Mode
The Graphene Flagship
programme was launched
on May 4 in Budapest
with the goal of bringing
"this most-promising
material to the real-
world." It is part of an
ambitious science-driven,
research initiative in the
EU called the Future and
Emerging Technology
(FET) Flagships project. A
video of Nokia's Morph
concept can be seen here:
youtu.be/IX-gTobCJHs.
Nokia pushing
Graphene as super-
material of the
future
AMAZING: Nokia Morph in
Phone Mode. Graphene is
a thin, light, super-strong,
flexible material that may
be the key to developing
revolutionary devices. -
AFP/Relaxnews
Graphene is a super-
material that Nokia
believes will revolutionise
gadgets and "change the
world." Nokia explains,
"Graphene is an allotrope
of carbon and its 2D
structure measures just
one atom thick.
While being thin, it's the
strongest material ever
tested, having a breaking
strength 200 times
greater than steel and is
also the lightest material
ever, best intrinsic
conductor and super-
flexible, too. It's predicted
to replace silicon as the
base for all electronics."
This thin, light, super-
strong, flexible material
may be the key to
developing revolutionary
devices, such as Nokia's
"Morph," that up until
now have only been
envisioned as far-fetched
concepts.
Nokia Morph open
"We're not just talking
about mobile phones
here, we're talking about
the technology in its
vastness. Once the
technology exists, your
TV could - in theory - just
be unrolled and pasted to
your living room wall, like
a roll of wallpaper," adds
Nokia in a June 14 post on
its Conversations blog.
While the possibilities for
Graphene-based gadgets
are mind-boggling there is
still a lot of research to be
done.
Nokia is teaming up with
four Nobel laureates: Dr
Andrea Gelm, Dr
Konstantin Novoselov, Dr
K. von Klitzing and Dr A.
Fert to further the
technology as part of the
Graphene Flagship
programme.
The Chalmers University
of Technology, the
University of Manchester,
the University of
Lancaster, the University
of Cambridge, AMO Gmbh,
the Catalan institute of
Nanotechnology, the
Italian research council,
and the European Science
foundation will also be
involved in the
programme.
Nokia Morph in Wrist
Mode
The Graphene Flagship
programme was launched
on May 4 in Budapest
with the goal of bringing
"this most-promising
material to the real-
world." It is part of an
ambitious science-driven,
research initiative in the
EU called the Future and
Emerging Technology
(FET) Flagships project. A
video of Nokia's Morph
concept can be seen here:
youtu.be/IX-gTobCJHs.
Lunar eclipse turns moon blood red
By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 6/16/2011
Lunar eclipse turns moon blood red
The longest lunar eclipse in more than a decade turned the moon blood red on Thursday, yielding a rare visual treat for stargazers across a large swathe of the planet from Australia to Europe.
Lunar eclipse turns moon blood red
The longest lunar eclipse in more than a decade turned the moon blood red on Thursday, yielding a rare visual treat for stargazers across a large swathe of the planet from Australia to Europe.
The first eclipse of the year -- when the Earth casts its shadow over the moon -- was seen in parts of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Often the moon turns brown in an eclipse but this time it became a reddish, coppery colour.
Contrary to some Internet chatter, the moon's vivid red hue was not necessarily the result of ash from the erupting Puyehue volcano, high in Chile's Andes, according to Sydney Observatory astronomer Geoffrey Wyatt.
"We can't say for sure," he said.
"The red colour is not caused by dust in the atmosphere. What dust does is extinguish colour and make it look darker."
The terrestrial shadow started to fall at 1724 GMT and lifted around 2300 GMT, although "totality" -- when the lunar face is completely covered -- lasted 100 minutes. That was the longest since July 2000.
While keen astronomers in parts of Australia had to contend with dense cloud cover and rain, others had a clearer view.
Around 130 people watched at the Sydney Observatory, with one woman dressed as a vampire.
"There was (also) a child dressed very elegantly as if she was from another century, and a little boy dressed up as a red superhuman," the observatory's manager Toner Stevenson said.
Professor Fred Watson, chief astronomer at the Australian Astronomical Observatory, said the best view would have been from the moon itself.
"If you could watch the phenomena, you would see the Earth moving across the sun and it creating a brilliant red rim around the Earth," he said.
In Singapore, more than 700 people gathered outside a science centre to watch.
Some avid enthusiasts staked out spots more than four hours ahead of schedule with the centre organising astronomy talks and movie screenings to entertain the audience.
There were similar scenes in the Philippine capital Manila where hundreds of amateur and professional astronomers converged before dawn to catch a glimpse.
With blankets and flasks of coffee, they were rewarded with clear skies.
"I will never get tired of watching these events," said Maximo Sacro, 67, the retired curator of the National Museum Planetarium who dusted off his telephoto lens to capture the image.
"The moon's entry into the Earth's shadow was right smack in the middle, it was just perfect. It was very rare and the duration was long."
The eclipse was widely seen across Pakistan and India, with crowds gathered at the Nehru planetarium in New Delhi, which organised a "moon carnival", setting up special viewing telescopes.
But traditionalists were not as enthusiastic, with authorities at several Indian temples reportedly shutting their doors to ward off the supposed "evil effects" of the eclipse.
In the Afghan capital Kabul, mosques were packed, as crowds recited verses from the Koran and offered special prayers.
"In Afghanistan, people believe that the eclipse is a sign of the power of Allah," said Mir Ahmad Joyenda, an Afghan analyst who commentates on culture and society.
"People usually offer special prayers and shout Allah Akbar (God is great) at the time of the eclipse. Most of them are not aware how and why the eclipse takes place."
While the phenomenon could not be seen everywhere, including the United States, space lovers still got a chance to see it unfold as Google teamed up with Slooh.com.
Slooh accesses telescopes around the world and Google live-streamed the event, with audio narration from astronomers. And on its home page, Google replaced its usual banner "doodle" with an animated eclipse.
The next total lunar eclipse will be on December 10. There will be partial solar eclipses on July 1 and November 25, but the next total solar eclipse will not take place until November 13, 2012.
Lunar eclipse turns moon blood red
The longest lunar eclipse in more than a decade turned the moon blood red on Thursday, yielding a rare visual treat for stargazers across a large swathe of the planet from Australia to Europe.
Lunar eclipse turns moon blood red
The longest lunar eclipse in more than a decade turned the moon blood red on Thursday, yielding a rare visual treat for stargazers across a large swathe of the planet from Australia to Europe.
The first eclipse of the year -- when the Earth casts its shadow over the moon -- was seen in parts of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Often the moon turns brown in an eclipse but this time it became a reddish, coppery colour.
Contrary to some Internet chatter, the moon's vivid red hue was not necessarily the result of ash from the erupting Puyehue volcano, high in Chile's Andes, according to Sydney Observatory astronomer Geoffrey Wyatt.
"We can't say for sure," he said.
"The red colour is not caused by dust in the atmosphere. What dust does is extinguish colour and make it look darker."
The terrestrial shadow started to fall at 1724 GMT and lifted around 2300 GMT, although "totality" -- when the lunar face is completely covered -- lasted 100 minutes. That was the longest since July 2000.
While keen astronomers in parts of Australia had to contend with dense cloud cover and rain, others had a clearer view.
Around 130 people watched at the Sydney Observatory, with one woman dressed as a vampire.
"There was (also) a child dressed very elegantly as if she was from another century, and a little boy dressed up as a red superhuman," the observatory's manager Toner Stevenson said.
Professor Fred Watson, chief astronomer at the Australian Astronomical Observatory, said the best view would have been from the moon itself.
"If you could watch the phenomena, you would see the Earth moving across the sun and it creating a brilliant red rim around the Earth," he said.
In Singapore, more than 700 people gathered outside a science centre to watch.
Some avid enthusiasts staked out spots more than four hours ahead of schedule with the centre organising astronomy talks and movie screenings to entertain the audience.
There were similar scenes in the Philippine capital Manila where hundreds of amateur and professional astronomers converged before dawn to catch a glimpse.
With blankets and flasks of coffee, they were rewarded with clear skies.
"I will never get tired of watching these events," said Maximo Sacro, 67, the retired curator of the National Museum Planetarium who dusted off his telephoto lens to capture the image.
"The moon's entry into the Earth's shadow was right smack in the middle, it was just perfect. It was very rare and the duration was long."
The eclipse was widely seen across Pakistan and India, with crowds gathered at the Nehru planetarium in New Delhi, which organised a "moon carnival", setting up special viewing telescopes.
But traditionalists were not as enthusiastic, with authorities at several Indian temples reportedly shutting their doors to ward off the supposed "evil effects" of the eclipse.
In the Afghan capital Kabul, mosques were packed, as crowds recited verses from the Koran and offered special prayers.
"In Afghanistan, people believe that the eclipse is a sign of the power of Allah," said Mir Ahmad Joyenda, an Afghan analyst who commentates on culture and society.
"People usually offer special prayers and shout Allah Akbar (God is great) at the time of the eclipse. Most of them are not aware how and why the eclipse takes place."
While the phenomenon could not be seen everywhere, including the United States, space lovers still got a chance to see it unfold as Google teamed up with Slooh.com.
Slooh accesses telescopes around the world and Google live-streamed the event, with audio narration from astronomers. And on its home page, Google replaced its usual banner "doodle" with an animated eclipse.
The next total lunar eclipse will be on December 10. There will be partial solar eclipses on July 1 and November 25, but the next total solar eclipse will not take place until November 13, 2012.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Scientists predict rare 'hibernation' of sunspots
Scientists predict rare 'hibernation' of sunspots
by Kerry Sheridan
Tue Jun 14, 5:38 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – For years, scientists have been predicting the Sun would by around 2012 move into solar maximum, a period of intense flares and sunspot activity, but lately a curious calm has suggested quite the opposite.
According to three studies released in the United States on Tuesday, experts believe the familiar sunspot cycle may be shutting down and heading toward a pattern of inactivity unseen since the 17th century.
The signs include a missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles, said experts from the National Solar Observatory and Air Force Research Laboratory.
"This is highly unusual and unexpected," said Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO's Solar Synoptic Network, as the findings of the three studies were presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
"But the fact that three completely different views of the Sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation."
Solar activity tends to rise and fall every 11 years or so. The solar maximum and solar minimum each mark about half the interval of the magnetic pole reversal on the Sun, which happens every 22 years.
Hill said the current cycle, number 24, "may be the last normal one for some time and the next one, cycle 25, may not happen for some time.
"This is important because the solar cycle causes space weather which affects modern technology and may contribute to climate change," he told reporters.
Experts are now probing whether this period of inactivity could be a second Maunder Minimum, which was a 70-year period when hardly any sunspots were observed between 1645-1715, a period known as the "Little Ice Age."
"If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we'll see for a few decades. That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth's climate," said Hill.
Solar flares and eruptions can send highly charged particles hurtling toward Earth and interfere with satellite communications, GPS systems and even airline controls.
Geomagnetic forces have been known to occasionally garble the world's modern gadgetry, and warnings were issued as recently as last week when a moderate solar flare sent a coronal mass ejection in the Earth's direction.
The temperature change associated with any reduction in sunspot activity would likely be minimal and may not be enough to offset the impact of greenhouse gases on global warming, according to scientists who have published recent papers on the topic.
"Recent solar 11-year cycles are associated empirically with changes in global surface temperature of 0.1 Celsius," said Judith Lean, a solar physicist with the US Naval Research Laboratory.
If the cycle were to stop or slow down, the small fluctuation in temperature would do the same, eliminating the slightly cooler effect of a solar minimum compared to the warmer solar maximum. The phenomenon was witnessed during the descending phase of the last solar cycle.
This "cancelled part of the greenhouse gas warming of the period 2000-2008, causing the net global surface temperature to remain approximately flat -- and leading to the big debate of why the Earth hadn't (been) warming in the past decade," Lean, who was not involved in the three studies presented, said in an email to AFP.
A study in the March 2010 issue of Geophysical Research Letters explored what effect an extended solar minimum might have, and found no more than a 0.3 Celsius dip by 2100 compared to normal solar fluctuations.
"A new Maunder-type solar activity minimum cannot offset the global warming caused by human greenhouse gas emissions," wrote authors Georg Feulner and Stefan Rahmstorf, noting that forecasts by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have found a range of 3.7 Celsius to 4.5 Celsius rise by this century's end compared to the latter half of the 20th century.
"Moreover, any offset of global warming due to a grand minimum of solar activity would be merely a temporary effect, since the distinct solar minima during the last millennium typically lasted for only several decades or a century at most."
by Kerry Sheridan
Tue Jun 14, 5:38 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – For years, scientists have been predicting the Sun would by around 2012 move into solar maximum, a period of intense flares and sunspot activity, but lately a curious calm has suggested quite the opposite.
According to three studies released in the United States on Tuesday, experts believe the familiar sunspot cycle may be shutting down and heading toward a pattern of inactivity unseen since the 17th century.
The signs include a missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles, said experts from the National Solar Observatory and Air Force Research Laboratory.
"This is highly unusual and unexpected," said Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO's Solar Synoptic Network, as the findings of the three studies were presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
"But the fact that three completely different views of the Sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation."
Solar activity tends to rise and fall every 11 years or so. The solar maximum and solar minimum each mark about half the interval of the magnetic pole reversal on the Sun, which happens every 22 years.
Hill said the current cycle, number 24, "may be the last normal one for some time and the next one, cycle 25, may not happen for some time.
"This is important because the solar cycle causes space weather which affects modern technology and may contribute to climate change," he told reporters.
Experts are now probing whether this period of inactivity could be a second Maunder Minimum, which was a 70-year period when hardly any sunspots were observed between 1645-1715, a period known as the "Little Ice Age."
"If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we'll see for a few decades. That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth's climate," said Hill.
Solar flares and eruptions can send highly charged particles hurtling toward Earth and interfere with satellite communications, GPS systems and even airline controls.
Geomagnetic forces have been known to occasionally garble the world's modern gadgetry, and warnings were issued as recently as last week when a moderate solar flare sent a coronal mass ejection in the Earth's direction.
The temperature change associated with any reduction in sunspot activity would likely be minimal and may not be enough to offset the impact of greenhouse gases on global warming, according to scientists who have published recent papers on the topic.
"Recent solar 11-year cycles are associated empirically with changes in global surface temperature of 0.1 Celsius," said Judith Lean, a solar physicist with the US Naval Research Laboratory.
If the cycle were to stop or slow down, the small fluctuation in temperature would do the same, eliminating the slightly cooler effect of a solar minimum compared to the warmer solar maximum. The phenomenon was witnessed during the descending phase of the last solar cycle.
This "cancelled part of the greenhouse gas warming of the period 2000-2008, causing the net global surface temperature to remain approximately flat -- and leading to the big debate of why the Earth hadn't (been) warming in the past decade," Lean, who was not involved in the three studies presented, said in an email to AFP.
A study in the March 2010 issue of Geophysical Research Letters explored what effect an extended solar minimum might have, and found no more than a 0.3 Celsius dip by 2100 compared to normal solar fluctuations.
"A new Maunder-type solar activity minimum cannot offset the global warming caused by human greenhouse gas emissions," wrote authors Georg Feulner and Stefan Rahmstorf, noting that forecasts by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have found a range of 3.7 Celsius to 4.5 Celsius rise by this century's end compared to the latter half of the 20th century.
"Moreover, any offset of global warming due to a grand minimum of solar activity would be merely a temporary effect, since the distinct solar minima during the last millennium typically lasted for only several decades or a century at most."
Monday, June 13, 2011
US Pentagon to treat cyber-attacks as 'acts of war'
US Pentagon to
treat cyber-
attacks as 'acts of
war'
The US is set to publish
plans that will categorise
cyber-attacks as acts of
war, the Pentagon says.
In future, a US president
could consider economic
sanctions, cyber-
retaliation or a military
strike if key US computer
systems were attacked,
officials have said
recently.
The planning was given
added urgency by a
cyber-attack last month
on the defence
contractor, Lockheed
Martin.
A new report from the
Pentagon is due out in a
matter of weeks.
"A response to a cyber-
incident or attack on the
US would not necessarily
be a cyber-response. All
appropriate options
would be on the table,"
Pentagon spokesman Col
Dave Lapan told
reporters on Tuesday.
Col Lapan confirmed the
Pentagon was drawing
up a cyber defence
strategy, which would be
ready in two to three
weeks.
Cyber-attacks from
foreign nations that
threaten widespread US
civilian casualties, like
cutting off power
supplies or shutting down
emergency-responder
networks, could be
treated as an act of
aggression under the
new policy.
But the plan does not
mention how the US may
respond to cyber-
attackers, such as
terrorists, who are not
acting for a nation state.
'All necessary means'
The Pentagon's planning
follows an international
strategy statement on
cyber-security, issued by
the White House on 16
May.
The US would "respond to
hostile acts in cyberspace
as we would to any other
threat to our country",
stated the White House in
plain terms.
"We reserve the right to
use all necessary means -
diplomatic, informational,
military, and economic - as
appropriate and
consistent with
applicable international
law, in order to defend
our nation, our allies, our
partners and our
interests."
The Wall Street Journal
quoted a military official
as saying: "If you shut
down our power grid,
maybe we will put a
missile down one of your
smokestacks."
White House officials said
consideration of a military
response to a cyber-
attack would constitute a
"last resort", after other
efforts to deter an
attack had failed, the
New York Times
newspaper reported.
Sophistication of hackers
One of the difficulties
strategists are grappling
with is how to track
down reliably the cyber-
attackers who
deliberately obscure the
origin of their incursions.
The sophistication of
hackers and frequency of
the attacks came back
into focus after an attack
on arms-maker Lockheed
Martin on 21 May.
Lockheed said the
"tenacious" cyber-attack
on its network was part
of a pattern of attacks on
it from around the world.
The worst cyber-attack
against the US military
occurred in 2008, when
malicious software on a
flash drive
commandeered
computers at US Central
Command.
The US defence
department estimates
that more than 100
foreign intelligence
organizations have
attempted to break into
American networks.
The US is also accused of
using cyber warfare
against other nations. In
2010 Iran accused the US
of helping to develop
Stuxnet, a software
worm aimed at controlling
systems in Iranian nuclear
plants.
treat cyber-
attacks as 'acts of
war'
The US is set to publish
plans that will categorise
cyber-attacks as acts of
war, the Pentagon says.
In future, a US president
could consider economic
sanctions, cyber-
retaliation or a military
strike if key US computer
systems were attacked,
officials have said
recently.
The planning was given
added urgency by a
cyber-attack last month
on the defence
contractor, Lockheed
Martin.
A new report from the
Pentagon is due out in a
matter of weeks.
"A response to a cyber-
incident or attack on the
US would not necessarily
be a cyber-response. All
appropriate options
would be on the table,"
Pentagon spokesman Col
Dave Lapan told
reporters on Tuesday.
Col Lapan confirmed the
Pentagon was drawing
up a cyber defence
strategy, which would be
ready in two to three
weeks.
Cyber-attacks from
foreign nations that
threaten widespread US
civilian casualties, like
cutting off power
supplies or shutting down
emergency-responder
networks, could be
treated as an act of
aggression under the
new policy.
But the plan does not
mention how the US may
respond to cyber-
attackers, such as
terrorists, who are not
acting for a nation state.
'All necessary means'
The Pentagon's planning
follows an international
strategy statement on
cyber-security, issued by
the White House on 16
May.
The US would "respond to
hostile acts in cyberspace
as we would to any other
threat to our country",
stated the White House in
plain terms.
"We reserve the right to
use all necessary means -
diplomatic, informational,
military, and economic - as
appropriate and
consistent with
applicable international
law, in order to defend
our nation, our allies, our
partners and our
interests."
The Wall Street Journal
quoted a military official
as saying: "If you shut
down our power grid,
maybe we will put a
missile down one of your
smokestacks."
White House officials said
consideration of a military
response to a cyber-
attack would constitute a
"last resort", after other
efforts to deter an
attack had failed, the
New York Times
newspaper reported.
Sophistication of hackers
One of the difficulties
strategists are grappling
with is how to track
down reliably the cyber-
attackers who
deliberately obscure the
origin of their incursions.
The sophistication of
hackers and frequency of
the attacks came back
into focus after an attack
on arms-maker Lockheed
Martin on 21 May.
Lockheed said the
"tenacious" cyber-attack
on its network was part
of a pattern of attacks on
it from around the world.
The worst cyber-attack
against the US military
occurred in 2008, when
malicious software on a
flash drive
commandeered
computers at US Central
Command.
The US defence
department estimates
that more than 100
foreign intelligence
organizations have
attempted to break into
American networks.
The US is also accused of
using cyber warfare
against other nations. In
2010 Iran accused the US
of helping to develop
Stuxnet, a software
worm aimed at controlling
systems in Iranian nuclear
plants.
Kung fu training for flight attendants to deal with unruly passengers
Kung fu training for
flight attendants to
deal with unruly
passengers
April 18, 2011 - 10:13AM
A Hong Kong airline is
making all its cabin crew
take kung fu lessons to
help them to deal with
drunk and unruly
passengers.
Hong Kong Airlines said all
staff had been invited to
undergo training in wing
chun - a form of kung fu
used in close-range
combat - but it was only
compulsory for cabin
crew, the Sunday
Morning Post reported.
The airline had around
three incidents involving
disruptive passengers
every week, said Eva
Chan, the carrier's deputy
general manager of
corporate communication.
Two weeks ago a crew
member had to put her
martial arts training into
practice on a flight from
Beijing to Hong Kong.
"One of the passengers
was sick but he was
probably drunk and felt
unwell. The crew member
attended to him and she
realised her fitness was
helping her, especially
because the guy was
quite heavy," Chan told
the newspaper.
"Normally, a female cabin
crew can't handle a fat
guy, especially if he's
drunk, but because of the
training, she can handle it
quite easily."
New recruit Lumpy Tang,
22, said she never
imagined kung fu would
be part of the job.
"We were surprised in
the beginning, but after a
few lessons we really
liked wing chun," Tang
told the Post.
"You cannot predict what
will happen on the plane,
so wing chun is good
because it's so fast," she
said.
"I feel safer because I can
defend myself and I'm
really happy to be one of
the first cabin crew to
learn wing chun in the
world."
Wing chun instructor
Katherine Cheung said
the martial art was ideal
for airline crews.
"Wing chun can be used in
small, confined spaces so
it's suited for an
airplane," Cheung said.
"It's easy to learn but
difficult to master."
AFP
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/
travel/travel-news/
kung-fu-training-for-
flight-attendants-to-
deal-with-unruly-
flight attendants to
deal with unruly
passengers
April 18, 2011 - 10:13AM
A Hong Kong airline is
making all its cabin crew
take kung fu lessons to
help them to deal with
drunk and unruly
passengers.
Hong Kong Airlines said all
staff had been invited to
undergo training in wing
chun - a form of kung fu
used in close-range
combat - but it was only
compulsory for cabin
crew, the Sunday
Morning Post reported.
The airline had around
three incidents involving
disruptive passengers
every week, said Eva
Chan, the carrier's deputy
general manager of
corporate communication.
Two weeks ago a crew
member had to put her
martial arts training into
practice on a flight from
Beijing to Hong Kong.
"One of the passengers
was sick but he was
probably drunk and felt
unwell. The crew member
attended to him and she
realised her fitness was
helping her, especially
because the guy was
quite heavy," Chan told
the newspaper.
"Normally, a female cabin
crew can't handle a fat
guy, especially if he's
drunk, but because of the
training, she can handle it
quite easily."
New recruit Lumpy Tang,
22, said she never
imagined kung fu would
be part of the job.
"We were surprised in
the beginning, but after a
few lessons we really
liked wing chun," Tang
told the Post.
"You cannot predict what
will happen on the plane,
so wing chun is good
because it's so fast," she
said.
"I feel safer because I can
defend myself and I'm
really happy to be one of
the first cabin crew to
learn wing chun in the
world."
Wing chun instructor
Katherine Cheung said
the martial art was ideal
for airline crews.
"Wing chun can be used in
small, confined spaces so
it's suited for an
airplane," Cheung said.
"It's easy to learn but
difficult to master."
AFP
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/
travel/travel-news/
kung-fu-training-for-
flight-attendants-to-
deal-with-unruly-
Emma Watson quits US university
Emma Watson quits
US university
June 13, 2011 - 3:59PM
Actress Emma Watson is
returning to Britain to
study at one of the
country's most
prestigious universities
after quitting her course
at Rhode Island's Brown
University.
The Harry Potter star
enrolled at the renowned
American college to study
English literature, but
dropped out in April amid
rumours she was being
bullied by classmates.
Watson vehemently
denied the claims,
insisting she simply
wanted to tackle a
different course not
offered by Brown.
And now reports suggest
the star is enrolling at
Oxford University, one of
Britain's top academic
facilities.
According to Britain's
Daily Mirror, she'll be
joining the uni's
Worcester College in
October. Brown has a
transfer program
allowing students to
move to other
universities for a year,
one of which is Oxford.
And Watson won't feel
homesick while
concentrating on her
studies - she has lived in
the county of Oxfordshire
since she was a child.
WENN
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/
lifestyle/people/emma-
watson-quits-us-
US university
June 13, 2011 - 3:59PM
Actress Emma Watson is
returning to Britain to
study at one of the
country's most
prestigious universities
after quitting her course
at Rhode Island's Brown
University.
The Harry Potter star
enrolled at the renowned
American college to study
English literature, but
dropped out in April amid
rumours she was being
bullied by classmates.
Watson vehemently
denied the claims,
insisting she simply
wanted to tackle a
different course not
offered by Brown.
And now reports suggest
the star is enrolling at
Oxford University, one of
Britain's top academic
facilities.
According to Britain's
Daily Mirror, she'll be
joining the uni's
Worcester College in
October. Brown has a
transfer program
allowing students to
move to other
universities for a year,
one of which is Oxford.
And Watson won't feel
homesick while
concentrating on her
studies - she has lived in
the county of Oxfordshire
since she was a child.
WENN
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/
lifestyle/people/emma-
watson-quits-us-
Large earthquakes rock Christchurch
Large earthquakes
rock Christchurch
June 13, 2011 - 3:55PM
Damaging magnitude 6.0
and 5.5 earthquakes
which rocked
Christchurch earlier
today have not lessened
the government's resolve
to rebuild the shattered
city, Prime Minister John
Key says.
The magnitude 5.5 quake
struck at 1pm, 10
kilometres east of
Christchurch at Taylor's
Mistake beach, at a depth
of 11 kilometres, and sent
people scrambling for
cover. It was followed at
2.20pm by a more
powerful magnitude 6
quake, centred 10
kilometres southeast of
the city and 9km
underground.
At least 10 people were
taken to Christchurch
Hospital with injuries due
to falling building material
after the 1pm quake.
Other residents from the
devastated city cried in
the streets and hugged
their children.
Police said there were no
reports of injuries
following the second
aftershock.
The quakes are the latest
in a series of dozens of
aftershocks to hit
Canterbury following the
devastating February 22
earthquake, where 182
people died, and a
damaging magnitude 7.1
earthquake last
September. The February
22 quake measured
magnitude 6.3 and left
100,000 homes damaged -
10,000 beyond repair.
Christchurch's CBD was
left in ruins, with 900
buildings - many in what
has become known as the
'red zone' - expected to
be demolished.
Mayor Bob Parker told
Radio NZ the second
quake was the strongest.
"Thank God we had
evacuated the red zone,''
he said.
"We are being enveloped
with dust. It is very very
scary.
"We need to get a picture
of what is really
happening and to make a
call on where we need to
send our essential
services."
More masonry has fallen
from the ChristChurch
Catheral in the second
aftershock, sending up
large clouds of dust.
There are also reports
that another building in
Lichfield Street has fallen
down.
BUILDINGS FALL
More masonry fell from
the landmark
ChristChurch Catheral
and there were reports
of other buildings - in
Lichfield St, in Latimer
Square and at the corner
of Stanmore and
Worcester streets -
falling down.
A house fell off a cliff at
Sumner.
Two men who had been
salvaging windows from
the St Johns Church in the
central city were
reported to have
received cuts and bruises
and were taken to
hospital.
St John staff member
Alistair Drye said the two
men were okay, but
shaken.
"The walls fell down
around them," he said.
The church had been
severely damaged in
February's earthquake
and was set to be
demolished.
Walls around the outside
of the church had "fallen
and crumbled" during
today's aftershocks,
while the roof had
collapsed onto the organ
and the front of the
church, he said.
The tower of Lyttelton's
hiostoric Timeball
Station fell in today's
second quake.
Using binoculars,
Lyttelton resident Peter
Evans said he could see
the remains of the
Timeball Station from his
back garden.
"You can see the tower
has come down. The back
roof looks like its
collapsed into the
building. The top of the
tower has fallen off and
is lying on the ground. The
building has collapsed
really."
Stonemason Mark Whyte
was employed to take
down the Timeball
Station to see if it can be
rebuilt. He was up a crane
when the first
aftershock hit. He said
immediately went into
Christchurch to check on
other heritage buildings
he is in charge of
dismantling.
Asti Renaut had returned
home and was chatting to
a neighbour across the
fence when the
second earthquake
struck.
"It felt like I was surfing
on the lawn," she said.
Dominos Pizza assistant
manager Renee Murray
said Stanmore St
buildings, in
Christchurch, had also
partially collapsed.
"All the shops have fallen
down,'' she said. "Half of
the roof has fallen in.
They have not fully
collapsed.''
Roads and bridges have
been closed due to
further damage and
widespread liquefaction.
And there have been
reports of serious rock
falls at Shag Rock,
Boulder Bay and other
coastal areas.
In the Liggins St area of
Horseshoe Lake, the
ground was bubbling with
sand spurting out of the
ground, as happened in
the first two major
quakes, a resident said.
EMERGENCY SERVICE
RESPONSE
Canterbury police
communication manager
Stephen Hill said police
moved to evacuate the
red zone after the first
quake.
A St John spokesperson
said several ambulances
were operating in the city
and others were on
standby.
Firefighters rescued two
people from St John's
Church in central
Christchurch, fire
communications
spokeman Iain Lynn said.
Fire Service spokesman
Dan Coward said there
had been countless
callouts to burst pipes,
especially in the Sumner
area where many locals
were "freaked out".
He said fire crews were
investigating a number of
suspected fires and the
smell of smoke in various
sites around the city.
Christchurch Airport is
closed.
Air New Zealand
spokesperson Marie
Hosking says there are no
flights in and out of
Christchurch at the
moment.
Inspections are being
carried out on the
runway and the airport
will remain closed until it
has been fully assessed.
Marie wasn't aware of
any damage to the
runway or buildings.
The national air traffic
control centre in
Christchurch has
continued to operate
enabling flights to
continue throughout the
country, Airways
Corporation
communications manager
Nikki Hawkey says.
"Operational staff stayed
on but everybody else
has gone, we just can't
have people here that
aren't essential."
Mayor Parker said
officials were "still in the
information gathering
stage" but Christchurch
was unlikely to be
plunged back into a state
of emergency.
"We were lucky it didn't
go on for longer. But
something as sharp and
violent as that would
have damaged stone
buildings."
IMPACT WIDESPREAD
Significant rockfalls have
been seen in Sumner and
parts of Banks Peninsula
and land and cellphone
lines were down in many
of the beachside suburbs
and in the Heathcote
Valley.
Liquefaction had been
reported across the
eastern suburbs and as
far away as Kaiapoi,
which was hard hit in the
September quake.
Sirens were sounding
throughout the inner city
and helicopters were
flying over the red zone.
Telephone networks
reported lines
overloading and asked
users to text rather than
call. Telecom, Telstra and
Vodafone all reported
congestion.
One Pak 'n Save Wainoni
worker said items had
been thrown from the
shelves and the floor was
littered with food and
broken glass.
"It was pretty freaky. It
felt like it was right under
the supermarket," she
said.
Sumner Supervalue
supermarket is closed
while staff clear fallen
stock.
Residents in Beckenham
and Merivale said
crockery smashed and
shelves were emptied.
EVACUATIONS
All staff at the Art Gallery,
currently being used by
earthquake and council
officials, were evacuated.
Students at Burnside
High, Christ's College, St
Margarets, and St
Andrews College, were
also sent out of buildings
to the safety of playing
fields.
There were evacuations
at Canterbury University,
Westfield Riccarton mall
and Pak 'n Save Wainoni.
Staff at the Canterbury
Earthquake Recovery
Authority have
evacuated their Papanui
building and won't return
until a structural engineer
has assessed it, a civil
defence spokesman said.
Canterbury University
law student Jennifer
Jones was on the second
floor of the university
library when the quake
hit. "It started off not too
bad but then all the books
started flying off the
shelves. You've got 11
floors above you so
everyone got out pretty
quickly."
Riccarton mall was
evacuated after the
earthquake at 1pm today
with reports of fallen
roof tiles and raised
floors in the building.
No injuries were reported
as several thousand
people were forced
outside.
Several Westfield
employees were in the
building when the
magnitude 6 quake struck
at 2:20pm but were
unhurt.
Greymouth pair Matt
Adams and Crystal
Graham-Hayes were
shopping in Amazon when
the magnitude-5.5 quake
hit at 1pm.
''All the lights started
shaking to the ground. I
freaked out a little bit,''
Adams said.
''One of our mates [in
Greymouth] texted
before and said they felt
it a little bit.''
The pair had not
experienced a
Christchurch quake
before but Graham-Hayes
felt they tempted fate
this time.
''About ten minutes
before the shakes I
turned to [Adams] and
said 'We haven't felt one
yet' and then it happened.
''Watching everyone
trying to run down the
escalators that go up
was a bit interesting.
Everyone was pushing
everyone out of the way
trying to get through.
Very scary.''
Configure Express Gym
manager Janet Peterson
said shoppers' reactions
varied.
''It was a mixture. Some
people were used to
them but others you
could see blankets being
wrapped around people
and people physically
shaken up.''
Alena Smith, a retail
assistant at fashion store
Bling, had a near miss
with a falling lightbulb.
''I saw a lightbulb just fall
straight down in front of
me. There was a bit of
shattered glass.''
A spokeswoman for
Westfield said the mall
would not reopen today.
There were evacuations
at Canterbury University,
Westfield Riccarton mall
and Pak 'n' Save Wainoni.
One worker said items
had been thrown from
the shelves and the floor
was littered with food
and broken glass.
"It was pretty freaky. It
felt like it was right under
the supermarket," she
said.
There were reports of a
fire on Edgeware Road.
Residents in Beckenham
and Merivale said
crockery was smashed
and shelves were
emptied.
More liquefaction has
been reported in
Christchurch's eastern
suburbs.
In the Liggins Street area
of Horseshoe Lake, the
ground was bubbling,
with sand spurting out of
the ground, as happened
in the first two major
quakes, a resident said.
Phone lines were
overloading.
Lyttelton Tunnel closed
briefly, but has reopened.
Witness accounts
A witness near the tunnel
said the quake dislodged
rocks from the Port Hills
above, some of which
looked to be as big as car
tyres.
Central Christchurch
resident Jon Hicks said
"everything came out of
the fridge" during the
quake.
Other items had fallen
over inside his home, but
power and water
supplies were still
working as normal, he
said.
Anthony Surynt was
working in an electrical
workshop in Sydenham,
close to the CBD, when
the quake hit. He says it
came on really fast and
lasted for about 10 to 15
seconds. "It was quite
quick. I wouldn't be
surprised if another
building came down."
He says it didn't feel as
big as the February 22
quake but compared it to
the September quake. Mr
Surynt ran out of the
building as soon as he felt
the earthquake, fearful
of all the electrical
equipment in the
workshop. He has now
gone back to work.
Christchurch east MP
Aaron Gilmore said he was
just getting out of his car
when the quake hit and
couldn't work out what
was going on.
"I could see the ground
rise on the road, it was a
bit freaky."
There was cracking in the
wall of his North New
Brighton office that
hadn't been there in the
last quake and more
liquefaction and water.
"I was here for that last
5.5 quake and it definitely
felt bigger," Mr Gilmore
said.
Twitter user Nathanael
Boehm said his two-level
house "swayed heaps".
"Was up and ready to
leap out a window if it
started coming down.
"That would have been
bloody close to a 6
magnitude quake. Heart
going mental. Hope
everyone ok!"
Other Twitter users also
reported smashed items
in their houses and car
alarms being set off by
the aftershock.
Richard Derham reported
walking through the Arts
Centre car park and
seeing "a couple of
hundred cars start
dancing".
- Stuff.co.nz
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/
environment/large-
earthquakes-rock-
rock Christchurch
June 13, 2011 - 3:55PM
Damaging magnitude 6.0
and 5.5 earthquakes
which rocked
Christchurch earlier
today have not lessened
the government's resolve
to rebuild the shattered
city, Prime Minister John
Key says.
The magnitude 5.5 quake
struck at 1pm, 10
kilometres east of
Christchurch at Taylor's
Mistake beach, at a depth
of 11 kilometres, and sent
people scrambling for
cover. It was followed at
2.20pm by a more
powerful magnitude 6
quake, centred 10
kilometres southeast of
the city and 9km
underground.
At least 10 people were
taken to Christchurch
Hospital with injuries due
to falling building material
after the 1pm quake.
Other residents from the
devastated city cried in
the streets and hugged
their children.
Police said there were no
reports of injuries
following the second
aftershock.
The quakes are the latest
in a series of dozens of
aftershocks to hit
Canterbury following the
devastating February 22
earthquake, where 182
people died, and a
damaging magnitude 7.1
earthquake last
September. The February
22 quake measured
magnitude 6.3 and left
100,000 homes damaged -
10,000 beyond repair.
Christchurch's CBD was
left in ruins, with 900
buildings - many in what
has become known as the
'red zone' - expected to
be demolished.
Mayor Bob Parker told
Radio NZ the second
quake was the strongest.
"Thank God we had
evacuated the red zone,''
he said.
"We are being enveloped
with dust. It is very very
scary.
"We need to get a picture
of what is really
happening and to make a
call on where we need to
send our essential
services."
More masonry has fallen
from the ChristChurch
Catheral in the second
aftershock, sending up
large clouds of dust.
There are also reports
that another building in
Lichfield Street has fallen
down.
BUILDINGS FALL
More masonry fell from
the landmark
ChristChurch Catheral
and there were reports
of other buildings - in
Lichfield St, in Latimer
Square and at the corner
of Stanmore and
Worcester streets -
falling down.
A house fell off a cliff at
Sumner.
Two men who had been
salvaging windows from
the St Johns Church in the
central city were
reported to have
received cuts and bruises
and were taken to
hospital.
St John staff member
Alistair Drye said the two
men were okay, but
shaken.
"The walls fell down
around them," he said.
The church had been
severely damaged in
February's earthquake
and was set to be
demolished.
Walls around the outside
of the church had "fallen
and crumbled" during
today's aftershocks,
while the roof had
collapsed onto the organ
and the front of the
church, he said.
The tower of Lyttelton's
hiostoric Timeball
Station fell in today's
second quake.
Using binoculars,
Lyttelton resident Peter
Evans said he could see
the remains of the
Timeball Station from his
back garden.
"You can see the tower
has come down. The back
roof looks like its
collapsed into the
building. The top of the
tower has fallen off and
is lying on the ground. The
building has collapsed
really."
Stonemason Mark Whyte
was employed to take
down the Timeball
Station to see if it can be
rebuilt. He was up a crane
when the first
aftershock hit. He said
immediately went into
Christchurch to check on
other heritage buildings
he is in charge of
dismantling.
Asti Renaut had returned
home and was chatting to
a neighbour across the
fence when the
second earthquake
struck.
"It felt like I was surfing
on the lawn," she said.
Dominos Pizza assistant
manager Renee Murray
said Stanmore St
buildings, in
Christchurch, had also
partially collapsed.
"All the shops have fallen
down,'' she said. "Half of
the roof has fallen in.
They have not fully
collapsed.''
Roads and bridges have
been closed due to
further damage and
widespread liquefaction.
And there have been
reports of serious rock
falls at Shag Rock,
Boulder Bay and other
coastal areas.
In the Liggins St area of
Horseshoe Lake, the
ground was bubbling with
sand spurting out of the
ground, as happened in
the first two major
quakes, a resident said.
EMERGENCY SERVICE
RESPONSE
Canterbury police
communication manager
Stephen Hill said police
moved to evacuate the
red zone after the first
quake.
A St John spokesperson
said several ambulances
were operating in the city
and others were on
standby.
Firefighters rescued two
people from St John's
Church in central
Christchurch, fire
communications
spokeman Iain Lynn said.
Fire Service spokesman
Dan Coward said there
had been countless
callouts to burst pipes,
especially in the Sumner
area where many locals
were "freaked out".
He said fire crews were
investigating a number of
suspected fires and the
smell of smoke in various
sites around the city.
Christchurch Airport is
closed.
Air New Zealand
spokesperson Marie
Hosking says there are no
flights in and out of
Christchurch at the
moment.
Inspections are being
carried out on the
runway and the airport
will remain closed until it
has been fully assessed.
Marie wasn't aware of
any damage to the
runway or buildings.
The national air traffic
control centre in
Christchurch has
continued to operate
enabling flights to
continue throughout the
country, Airways
Corporation
communications manager
Nikki Hawkey says.
"Operational staff stayed
on but everybody else
has gone, we just can't
have people here that
aren't essential."
Mayor Parker said
officials were "still in the
information gathering
stage" but Christchurch
was unlikely to be
plunged back into a state
of emergency.
"We were lucky it didn't
go on for longer. But
something as sharp and
violent as that would
have damaged stone
buildings."
IMPACT WIDESPREAD
Significant rockfalls have
been seen in Sumner and
parts of Banks Peninsula
and land and cellphone
lines were down in many
of the beachside suburbs
and in the Heathcote
Valley.
Liquefaction had been
reported across the
eastern suburbs and as
far away as Kaiapoi,
which was hard hit in the
September quake.
Sirens were sounding
throughout the inner city
and helicopters were
flying over the red zone.
Telephone networks
reported lines
overloading and asked
users to text rather than
call. Telecom, Telstra and
Vodafone all reported
congestion.
One Pak 'n Save Wainoni
worker said items had
been thrown from the
shelves and the floor was
littered with food and
broken glass.
"It was pretty freaky. It
felt like it was right under
the supermarket," she
said.
Sumner Supervalue
supermarket is closed
while staff clear fallen
stock.
Residents in Beckenham
and Merivale said
crockery smashed and
shelves were emptied.
EVACUATIONS
All staff at the Art Gallery,
currently being used by
earthquake and council
officials, were evacuated.
Students at Burnside
High, Christ's College, St
Margarets, and St
Andrews College, were
also sent out of buildings
to the safety of playing
fields.
There were evacuations
at Canterbury University,
Westfield Riccarton mall
and Pak 'n Save Wainoni.
Staff at the Canterbury
Earthquake Recovery
Authority have
evacuated their Papanui
building and won't return
until a structural engineer
has assessed it, a civil
defence spokesman said.
Canterbury University
law student Jennifer
Jones was on the second
floor of the university
library when the quake
hit. "It started off not too
bad but then all the books
started flying off the
shelves. You've got 11
floors above you so
everyone got out pretty
quickly."
Riccarton mall was
evacuated after the
earthquake at 1pm today
with reports of fallen
roof tiles and raised
floors in the building.
No injuries were reported
as several thousand
people were forced
outside.
Several Westfield
employees were in the
building when the
magnitude 6 quake struck
at 2:20pm but were
unhurt.
Greymouth pair Matt
Adams and Crystal
Graham-Hayes were
shopping in Amazon when
the magnitude-5.5 quake
hit at 1pm.
''All the lights started
shaking to the ground. I
freaked out a little bit,''
Adams said.
''One of our mates [in
Greymouth] texted
before and said they felt
it a little bit.''
The pair had not
experienced a
Christchurch quake
before but Graham-Hayes
felt they tempted fate
this time.
''About ten minutes
before the shakes I
turned to [Adams] and
said 'We haven't felt one
yet' and then it happened.
''Watching everyone
trying to run down the
escalators that go up
was a bit interesting.
Everyone was pushing
everyone out of the way
trying to get through.
Very scary.''
Configure Express Gym
manager Janet Peterson
said shoppers' reactions
varied.
''It was a mixture. Some
people were used to
them but others you
could see blankets being
wrapped around people
and people physically
shaken up.''
Alena Smith, a retail
assistant at fashion store
Bling, had a near miss
with a falling lightbulb.
''I saw a lightbulb just fall
straight down in front of
me. There was a bit of
shattered glass.''
A spokeswoman for
Westfield said the mall
would not reopen today.
There were evacuations
at Canterbury University,
Westfield Riccarton mall
and Pak 'n' Save Wainoni.
One worker said items
had been thrown from
the shelves and the floor
was littered with food
and broken glass.
"It was pretty freaky. It
felt like it was right under
the supermarket," she
said.
There were reports of a
fire on Edgeware Road.
Residents in Beckenham
and Merivale said
crockery was smashed
and shelves were
emptied.
More liquefaction has
been reported in
Christchurch's eastern
suburbs.
In the Liggins Street area
of Horseshoe Lake, the
ground was bubbling,
with sand spurting out of
the ground, as happened
in the first two major
quakes, a resident said.
Phone lines were
overloading.
Lyttelton Tunnel closed
briefly, but has reopened.
Witness accounts
A witness near the tunnel
said the quake dislodged
rocks from the Port Hills
above, some of which
looked to be as big as car
tyres.
Central Christchurch
resident Jon Hicks said
"everything came out of
the fridge" during the
quake.
Other items had fallen
over inside his home, but
power and water
supplies were still
working as normal, he
said.
Anthony Surynt was
working in an electrical
workshop in Sydenham,
close to the CBD, when
the quake hit. He says it
came on really fast and
lasted for about 10 to 15
seconds. "It was quite
quick. I wouldn't be
surprised if another
building came down."
He says it didn't feel as
big as the February 22
quake but compared it to
the September quake. Mr
Surynt ran out of the
building as soon as he felt
the earthquake, fearful
of all the electrical
equipment in the
workshop. He has now
gone back to work.
Christchurch east MP
Aaron Gilmore said he was
just getting out of his car
when the quake hit and
couldn't work out what
was going on.
"I could see the ground
rise on the road, it was a
bit freaky."
There was cracking in the
wall of his North New
Brighton office that
hadn't been there in the
last quake and more
liquefaction and water.
"I was here for that last
5.5 quake and it definitely
felt bigger," Mr Gilmore
said.
Twitter user Nathanael
Boehm said his two-level
house "swayed heaps".
"Was up and ready to
leap out a window if it
started coming down.
"That would have been
bloody close to a 6
magnitude quake. Heart
going mental. Hope
everyone ok!"
Other Twitter users also
reported smashed items
in their houses and car
alarms being set off by
the aftershock.
Richard Derham reported
walking through the Arts
Centre car park and
seeing "a couple of
hundred cars start
dancing".
- Stuff.co.nz
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/
environment/large-
earthquakes-rock-
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
A brief history of hacking
The world is full of hackers, or so it seems. In the past few months barely a day has gone by without news of a fresh security breach.
Multi-national companies have been left counting the cost of assaults on their e-mail systems and websites.
Members of the public have had their personal information stolen and pasted all over the internet.
In the early decades of the 21st century the word "hacker" has become synonymous with people who lurk in darkened rooms, anonymously terrorising the internet.
But it was not always that way. The original hackers were benign creatures. Students, in fact.
To anyone attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1950s and 60s, a hack was simply an elegant or inspired solution to any given problem.
Many of the early MIT hacks tended to be practical jokes. One of the most extravagant saw a replica of a campus police car put on top of the Institute's Great Dome.
Over time, the word became associated with the burgeoning computer programming scene, at MIT and beyond. For these early pioneers, a hack was a feat of programming prowess.
Such activities were greatly admired as they combined expert knowledge with a creative instinct.
Boy powerThose students at MIT also laid the foundations for hacking's notorious gender divide. Then, as now, it tended to involve mainly young men and teenage boys.
The reason was set out in a book about the first hacker groups written by science fiction author Bruce Sterling.
Young men are largely powerless, he argued. Intimate knowledge of a technical subject gives them control, albeit over over machines.
"The deep attraction of this sensation of elite technical power should never be underestimated," he wrote.
His book, The Hacker Crackdown, details the lives and exploits of the first generation of hackers.
Most were kids, playing around with the telephone network, infiltrating early computer systems and slinging smack talk about their activities on bulletin boards.
This was the era of dedicated hacking magazines, including Phrack and 2600.
The individuals involved adopted handles like Fry Guy, Knight Lightning, Leftist and Urvile.
And groups began to appear with bombastic names, such as the Legion of Doom, the Masters of Deception, and Neon Knights.
As the sophistication of computer hackers developed, they began to come onto the radar of law enforcement.
During the 1980s and 90s, lawmakers in the USA and UK passed computer misuse legislation, giving them the means to prosecute.
A series of clampdowns followed, culminated in 1990 with Operation Sundevil - a series of raids on hackers led by the US Secret Service.
Group dynamicBut if Sundevil's aim was to stamp out hacking in the United States, it failed.
As connected systems became ubiquitous, so novel groups of hackers emerged, keen to demonstrate their skills.
Grandstanding was all part of the job for collectives like L0pht Heavy Industries, the Cult of the Dead Cow, and the Chaos Computer Club, along with individuals such as Kevin Mitnick, Mafiaboy and Dark Dante.
In 1998, L0pht members famously testified to the US Congress that they could take down the internet in 30 minutes.
Mafiaboy showed what he could do by crashing the sites of prominent web firms such as Yahoo, Amazon, Ebay and CNN.
Dark Dante used his knowledge to take over the telephone lines of a radio show so he could be the 102nd caller and win a Porsche 944.
Such actions demonstrate how hackers straddle the line separating the legal and illegal, explained Rik Ferguson, senior security researcher at Trend Micro.
"The groups can be both black or white hat (or sometimes grey) depending on their motivation," he said.
In hacker parlance, white hats are the good guys, black hats the criminals. But even then the terms are relative.
One man's hacker could be another's hacktivist.
Worldwide threatIf hacking was a business born in the US, it has gone truly global.
"In more recent times, groups emerged around the world in places as far flung as Pakistan and India, where there is fierce competition between the hackers," said Mr Ferguson.
In Romania groups such as HackersBlog have hit various companies. In China and Russia, many hackers are believed to act as proxies for their governments.
Now, in 2011, it is hacker groups making the headlines once again.
Two in particular, Anonymous and Lulz Security, have come to prominence with high profile attacks on Sony, Fox, HBGary and FBI affiliate Infragard.
"These stunts are being pulled at the same time as national governments are wringing their hands about what to do in the event of a concerted network attack that takes out some critical infrastructure component," said veteran cyber crime analyst Brian Krebs.
"It's not too hard to understand why so many people would pay attention to activity that is, for the most part, old school hacking - calling out a target, and doing it for fun or to make some kind of statement, as opposed to attacking for financial gain," he said.
A current favoured practice is to deface websites, leaving behind a prominent message - akin to the graffiti artist's tag.
According to Zone-H, a website which monitors such activity, more than 1.5 million defacements were logged in 2010, far more than ever before.
2011 looks like it will at least reach that total.
The sudden growth in the number of hackers in not necessarily down to schools improving their computing classes or an increased diligence on the part of young IT enthusiasts.
Rather, the explosion can likely be attributed to the popularity of Attack Tool Kits (ATKs) - off the shelf programs designed to exploit website security holes. Such software is widely available on the internet.
Bruce Sterling, with his future gazing hat on, has a view of what that will mean.
"If turmoil lasts long enough, it simply becomes a new kind of society - still the same game of history, but new players, new rules," he wrote.
And perhaps that is where we are now. Society's rules are changing but we're not sure who is doing the editing.
China's billionaires: Zong Qinghou, boss of Wahaha
China's billionaires: Zong Qinghou, boss of Wahaha
By Nick Rosen Author and filmmaker
I met Zong Qinghou, by some measures China's richest man, in his office - an anonymous building near Hangzhou railway station.
His company Wahaha has a 15% share of China's soft drinks market, and sales of nearly a billion dollars a year in children's clothing.
Before the interview, we were ushered into the staff canteen, a plain oblong room with formica tables where the top staff eat the same food as the workers.
When we arrived in his office, I noticed the same meal had been laid out for their boss.
Zong's monk-like devotion to duty is legendary. A former employee remembers he personally reviewed every office expense, including the purchase of a broom.
He still personally signs every major spending decision. In his office are two safes in which he told me he keeps the company seals of each of his approximately 200 subsidiaries.
He says he lives on $20 a day. "My only exercise is doing market research... my only hobbies are smoking and drinking tea," he told me (when I asked, he said his favourite brand was Lipton's).
Liquid foundation
Over two decades, he grew the company from a shop in a school selling ice lollies and vitamin drinks.
In 1989, he established the Wahaha Nutritional Food Factory in Hangzhou to produce Wahaha Oral Liquid for Children.
It was demand for the nutritional drinks that were the foundation of his empire. When sales took off, the government invited him to take over a failing canning factory in the same town.
The two companies merged in 1991 after a fierce media campaign led by the employees of the canning company, who accused him of being a capitalist.
Zong runs the company with his wife and daughter. Family involvement is a common feature of entrepreneur-owned businesses in China.
The founders see family members as more trustworthy and reliable than other senior management.
His daughter runs important parts of the business, but Zong says he has not yet chosen her as his successor.
No handouts
Zong is unusual amongst Chinese businessmen in his focus on philanthropy. But he does not just give his money away.
He said hard work was the key to the poor lifting themselves out of poverty. If you give money to the poor "they just spend it," he told me.
His daugther is a US passport holder, and Mr Zong said his main interest in working with foreign companies is to import products which Chinese companies are bad at making, yet his joint venture to set up Chinese factories with Danone ended acrimoniously.
Meanwhile, the 67-year-old is busy planning a major expansion into retail. While Walmart and Carrefours are pulling out of Chinese operations, Zong plans to open 100 large supermarkets in second and third-tier cities.
By Nick Rosen Author and filmmaker
I met Zong Qinghou, by some measures China's richest man, in his office - an anonymous building near Hangzhou railway station.
His company Wahaha has a 15% share of China's soft drinks market, and sales of nearly a billion dollars a year in children's clothing.
Before the interview, we were ushered into the staff canteen, a plain oblong room with formica tables where the top staff eat the same food as the workers.
When we arrived in his office, I noticed the same meal had been laid out for their boss.
Zong's monk-like devotion to duty is legendary. A former employee remembers he personally reviewed every office expense, including the purchase of a broom.
He still personally signs every major spending decision. In his office are two safes in which he told me he keeps the company seals of each of his approximately 200 subsidiaries.
He says he lives on $20 a day. "My only exercise is doing market research... my only hobbies are smoking and drinking tea," he told me (when I asked, he said his favourite brand was Lipton's).
Liquid foundation
Over two decades, he grew the company from a shop in a school selling ice lollies and vitamin drinks.
In 1989, he established the Wahaha Nutritional Food Factory in Hangzhou to produce Wahaha Oral Liquid for Children.
It was demand for the nutritional drinks that were the foundation of his empire. When sales took off, the government invited him to take over a failing canning factory in the same town.
The two companies merged in 1991 after a fierce media campaign led by the employees of the canning company, who accused him of being a capitalist.
Zong runs the company with his wife and daughter. Family involvement is a common feature of entrepreneur-owned businesses in China.
The founders see family members as more trustworthy and reliable than other senior management.
His daughter runs important parts of the business, but Zong says he has not yet chosen her as his successor.
No handouts
Zong is unusual amongst Chinese businessmen in his focus on philanthropy. But he does not just give his money away.
He said hard work was the key to the poor lifting themselves out of poverty. If you give money to the poor "they just spend it," he told me.
His daugther is a US passport holder, and Mr Zong said his main interest in working with foreign companies is to import products which Chinese companies are bad at making, yet his joint venture to set up Chinese factories with Danone ended acrimoniously.
Meanwhile, the 67-year-old is busy planning a major expansion into retail. While Walmart and Carrefours are pulling out of Chinese operations, Zong plans to open 100 large supermarkets in second and third-tier cities.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Malacca becomes Malaysia's first smoking-free city
The Malaysian world heritage city of Malacca will be smoke-free from June 15, a first for the country, the health minister said Monday.
Malacca becomes Malaysia's first smoking-free city
"The idea is to create fresh air and a clean environment for tourists and Malaysians alike to enjoy the historic city," he said.
"It will also aid in preserving the old monuments and buildings as the ban will reduce pollution in the area and promote a healthy lifestyle."
The no-smoking area covers the entire 4.2 square kilometres (1.6 square miles) of the city and four other areas in the southern state of Malacca.
"These areas will be free from cigarette smoke and make Malacca city the first smoking-free city in the country," said the minister.
"Those caught will be hit with a fine of 300 ringgit (100 dollars) although the maximum penalty is 5,000 ringgit."
Malacca chief minister Mohamad Ali Rustam told the Star daily that the state was also serious about declaring more tourist destinations in the state smoke-free zones.
With more than 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West, Malacca's multi-cultural heritage is seen its ornately designed government buildings, churches and forts.
It is where the Malay sultanate originated in the 15th century, before being invaded by the Portuguese and Dutch in the early 16th century.
In 2008, UNESCO included Malacca and Georgetown, on the resort island of Penang, in its world heritage list but there have been recent concerns that the southern port city could be de-listed because of redevelopment in its historic quarter.
Malaysia is hoping the heritage listing will boost tourism, which is a key foreign exchange earner.
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